Why Toka’s First Harvest Tea Arrives Later

At Toka, we call it shincha only during a limited season: from the first flush of tea made from the year’s earliest new shoots, through Obon in mid-August.

Whether sencha or kamairicha, each cultivar carries its own fresh, verdant aroma—almost like green fruit—along with a cool clarity and youthful vitality that belong only to shincha. It is a tea full of quiet strength, helping to prepare both body and mind for the heat of summer ahead.

As the well-known song of hachijūhachiya suggests, tea traditionally reaches its picking season around the 88th day after the beginning of spring, in early May. For this reason, shincha is also known as a seasonal word for early summer and the month of May.

In recent years, however, the shincha market has tended to begin earlier and earlier. In warmer regions such as Kagoshima, new tea can appear as early as March. By contrast, Toka’s shincha usually arrives in our store from late June to early July, making our announcement later than what is generally expected.

The reason lies in the environment where our tea leaves are grown.

All of the teas we offer are cultivated without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers, through farming methods rooted in nature. Because of this, many of the tea fields are located slightly away from areas of conventional agriculture, often in mountain regions or at higher elevations.

Even in May, mornings and evenings can still be cold, sometimes dropping below freezing. As a result, the harvest begins gradually from around mid-May. After harvesting, the tea must then go through the process of production and finishing. The first harvest teas are usually shipped from the farmers around early June, and depending on the weather, this can be delayed until late June.

At Toka, we respect this natural rhythm.

Rather than seeking hurried growth, we wait for the leaves to gather their full strength. Toka’s shincha, nurtured in this way, is beautifully fragrant even when brewed with ice or cold water, revealing a fruity aroma that can only be experienced during this brief season.

After summer passes, the tea leaves begin to mature, developing a deeper sweetness and a more mellow richness. This, too, is one of the true pleasures of tea grown through natural farming.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who waits for our “late” shincha.

From time to time, we hope you might look toward the distant mountains and imagine the young green leaves breathing there, along with the careful work of the farmers who cultivate tea by accepting and working with nature.

Standing in the tea fields at 5 a.m.Asamiya, Shiga Prefecture